Bottle o' Blues microphone

A few months ago, I found out about Jim McBride's Bottle o' Blues harmonica microphone and I mentioned it in these pages. Jim offered to send me a copy of this homemade mic which I brought along with me at the latest harmonica workshop day in St Aignan. I promised Jim I would give my feedback, and here I am, four months later, writing this. Oh heck, better late than never, and apologies to Jim...

So, as you can see from the photograph here, the Bottle o' Blues is made of plastic, shaped like a bottle of pills (or, as some of the facetious students mentioned while trying the mic, a urine sample bottle). It's extremely light, as can be expected, and has a sturdy jack plug to connect it to the amp. I and the other students tried it plugged into a Peavey Classic 30 Tube amp.

The Bottle o' Blues' grip is extremely comfortable, and the fact that it's made of very rigid plastic means I didn't feel worried of gripping it really hard if necessary (something I wouldn't do with my i-mic...) More importantly, the mic's osund is great, both on low and higher harps. It doesn't too thin or plasticky like some of the pro mics I've tried over the years. In fact, if anything, I felt the Bottle o' Blues had too much bass, rather the opposite of what you'd expect. I have to say that I tend to like my sound a little brighter when I play amplified, but then again, I didn't spend 20 minutes trying to set up the amp just right.

The students who tried it all seemed to find it fine too, and I have to say that considering the price ($35), it's great value for money. It's not just a good beginner's or backup mic, it's just a good mic. I probably wouldn't use it for the whole evening if I was doing a blues gig, but on numbers where I'm aiming for a dark, deep sound, it would be just the right tool for the job.

Comments

[Harpz]

I really enjoy my BoB mic, easy on the hands and sounds great with my Crate V58. Love the low feedback too.